THANKFUL

Chatting with Jesus

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Lord, did Mary understand? “We’re going where!”? Did Joseph and Mary have a clue this journey they were about to make was all part of your plan, and they were fulfilling ancient prophecy? (Isaiah 9).

“Joe, you’re kidding, right?” Mary might have said. “We’ve gotta go to Bethlehem? Joe—it’s ninety miles. Look at me! I’m in my ninth month. I may not be the most pleasant woman you want to be with on this trip. Riding a donkey for at least five days doesn’t bring out the best in me, even when I’m not pregnant. Can’t we wait till after the baby is born?”

“Don’t blame me, Mary,” Joseph may have tried to explain. “I’m not thrilled about making this trip either. “It’s Rome’s fault. Emperor Augustus has ordered a census be taken of our ancestral home. I didn’t ask to be born in King David’s lineage, but I am, so we’re required to go to Bethlehem” (Luke 2).

Irritable? Most likely. I know I probably would be. Even though Joseph and Mary were righteous people, chosen by God, we sometimes overlook they were human too. This trip to Bethlehem would be the first of many adventures that awaited them.

Lord, in your wisdom you chose Mary to bear your Son. Today, we often portray her as dainty and fragile, wherever, as a young peasant teenager, she must have been strong and robust. An older woman in her ninth month carrying a baby may not have survived that trip. And possibly lost the baby. But Lord, you gave everyone involved your grace and strength to do what needed to be done to bring about your plan to introduce your only Son Jesus to be the Savior of the world.

And the world has never been the same since. Thank you for coming, Jesus. Amen.